When we first thought about visiting China last summer we started gathering information about what to see and do in the two weeks of holidays that we had. We first focused on the Beijing area and found out that in the south, in the way to Xi’an, we could visit one of the most impressive medieval towns in China.
View of Pingyao from the wall that surrounds the ancient city
Pingyao is located in the Shanxi region and is a very popular destination among tourists. It is easy to reach Pingyao by train either from Beijing or from Datong. During our trip we met other travellers that were following the same itinerary than us: taking a train from Beijing to Datong and then another one from Datong to Pingyao. We have already written about the amazing experience that we had in Datong where we visited its hanging temple and the Yungang Grottoes. Continue reading Inside the walls of Pingyao→
These days we are bit busy because we are moving to a new flat but one week ago we had some free days and we decided to make a quick visit to the Catalan province of Lleida. We really needed some relax! 🙂
Lleida (whose capital has the same name) is the fourth and less populated province of Catalonia, after Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona. But the city of Lleida has a medieval complex (La Seu Vella) which has been the scenario of some historical highlights of Catalonia while the entire province is known for its natural and agricultural importance.
Picture taken in the cloister of La Seu Vella, with Lleida at our feet
Bergamo might be one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. However, this little city sometimes goes unnoticed. It is located just 60 km from Milan, the financial epicentre of Italy. It is also close to Lago di Garda and Verona. Fortunately, thanks to low cost airlines from Barcelona it is quite easy to flight to the Orio al Serio International Airport. Most people use such airport as a low cost one for visiting Milan and that is what we did one cold weekend in February. But we also decided to visit this medieval jewel called Bergamo.
Piazza Vecchia (or THE square) 🙂
Most hotspots of Bergamo can be seen in only one day. It is said that when Le Corbusier visited the Piazza Vecchia (main square of Bergamo), he said that it was the most beautiful square in Europe. We’ve already been to some European squares (and have much more in our bucket list!) and the truth is that Bergamo really deserves one day of you time. If you need more reasons for planning a trip to Bergamo, keep reading! 🙂
Just 30 minutes driving from Barcelona, the Bages is an inland region full of history, landmarks like Montserrat and an old tradition of excellent food and wine. We decided to discover a small piece of this land visiting Artium cellar and Món Sant Benet monastery. It was a gastronomic, cultural and historical journey to the heart of Catalonia. In this post we explain all what we learnt, what we ate and what we drank in this one day trip from the well known capital of Catalonia. As always, we try to recommend unknown but valuable sites and experiences out of Barcelona. Hope this post is useful for your next trip to this mediterranean country.
It was 5:30am. The employee of China Railway company knocked the door and woke us up. We shared the small room with another couple from Barcelona. We hardly slept 5 hours and were tired after four full days discovering the capital of China, Beijing. We put on our clothes, went to the bathroom and closed the luggage. The train arrived to its destination, Datong.
